Plants to help suppress ground elder and bindweed in established borders

[PeriMeri]

I’ve never quite had my garden under control, but after a period of ill health I need to get back on track.

We have long borders and some established shrubs and perennials but also bindweed and ground elder coming through the boundaries.

Can anyone recommend anything that I can plant as I hand weed (not prepared to use weedkiller) that can hold its own, especially against the ground elder. Am particularly grateful for any suggestions for the back of the borders/fence boundaries. Garden is mainly south facing, borders a mix of sunny/dry and then shaded with the established shrubs.

We have some perennial geraniums elsewhere that I like, could they be a good option?

thanks

Perennial geraniums are a great idea- I read somewhere that the roots actually inhibit ground elder slightly but I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that since!

Bugle (ajuga reptans) would also be good as its so dense- it's very low so might be good where geraniums might overwhelm a shorter plant.

I have some sort of variegated nettle which has gone a bit mad and provides very good ground cover. It has pink flowers.

Pachysandra terminalis is a pretty vigorous ground cover. Persicaria red dragon is another favourite of mine.

Is it this type of lamium?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/9812/lamium-maculatum/details

TBH while it may seem like a good idea, I’m not sure anything can really outcompete bindweed and ground elder and you may just end up with more thugs trying to take over your borders. I’ve got some of that lamium and I have to weed it out. I’ve got other types of groundcover plants in my back border which compete with each other but don’t seem to impede bindweed at all.

I’ve got a patch of Japanese anemones in bindweed corner and while they don’t really suppress it, they’re strong enough not to be pulled down by it so I just uncoil and weed by hand as much as I can. Trying the old ‘never let them see a Sunday’ rule and that seems to be working, although it’s taken three years to get them down to a reasonable level.

Nothing will stop ground elder or bindweed from growing you need to pull/dig out the roots as much as you can. Ive used weed killer in the past for ground elder - if you catch it early you can slow its growth but you need to keep on top of it so that the roots eventually die. It never goes away completely.

bindweed isnt quite as bad but annoying when it grows around and through plants but if you trace it back to the roots and keep breaking it off you can keep it under control.

good luck!

@ErrolTheDragon yes. Thats the one.

Anything that has the strength to outcompete these two yobbish weeds will become a problem in its own right.

Epimidium is doing a good job in my garden where both neighbours have ground elder and bindweed problems. Also, counterintuitively, variegated ground elder, which is pretty and much less robust and occasionally gets ravaged by slugs so has not become a problem.

I can tell you what doesn’t outcompete them in my garden - woodruff and lily of the valley. And cardamine.

Mostly I just keep pulling and weeding, but with non-gardening neighbours it’s something that I am going to have to live with forever.

too right! Plant hostas, they said. It’ll be pretty, they said.

They romped everywhere - no weeds, sure, but the hostas became a five year battle (they kept popping up in the path, which didn’t have amazing grout)

Thank you everyone, lots of plants for me to research.

I probably should have been clearer in my original post, I realise there’s unlikely to be a perfect plant that will outcompete eg ground elder without itself becoming troublesome, but I suppose I’m looking for that sweet spot: something to fill the gaps as I weed that won’t immediately become overwhelmed and buy me a bit of time/breathing room. My borders are just too long for me to be able to keep on top with hand weeding alone.

but thanks again for all the comments and suggestions (and the things that are problematic/don’t work), so helpful for a novice like myself ❤️